Human pathophysiology is highly complex and it is very difficult for physicians and nurses to timely detect sepsis in the many settings. U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,241,213, 8,152,732, 7,758,503, 7,398,115 and 7,081,095, as well as U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 12/437,417, 12/437,385, 12/629,407, 13/677,291, and 13/677,288 (the entire contents of each of these applications are incorporated by reference as if completely disclosed herein) disclose processor methods, processing systems, and patient monitors for timely detection, identification, quantification, tracking, and generation of dynamic displays of sepsis and other conditions. These patents and applications provide additional background for the present subject matter.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/677,295, entitled “Pathophysiologic Storm Tracker”, filed Nov. 14, 2012 discloses processor based methods and processor systems in which displays of sepsis are presented metaphorically as dynamic images similar to color weather radar. The use of the color weather radar metaphor connects the user's knowledge about weather patterns which, like sepsis, may over time; grow, spread, worsen, move, morph into another condition, evolve, aggregate, disperse, improve, recover, recur and recover again across clinical and/or compartmental regions or spaces. These disclosed displays identify for example; onset, dynamic severity, dynamic progression, dynamic relationships to other events (such as medications) and/or procedures in a format which virtually all adults can readily understand. The use of the color weather radar metaphor takes advantage of the user's knowledge about dynamic processes to flatten the learning curve of sepsis dynamics. The color weather radar metaphoric images of sepsis and other conditions of the aforementioned techniques as well as the present techniques renders the complexity of sepsis more readily interpretable by those with limited training to empower a larger group of individuals (including the patient or the patients family) to enhance surveillance and mitigate the effects of a less than optimally attentive or trained healthcare worker.